A\N: Hi everyone! :) […] written by AlwaysRemainMe and TheSkySpiritsTalentShow (me).

~^.^~

„I knew this was a bad idea," Skipper grumbled. "Which highly-secretive, sworn to secrecy and secret team would go have a dense walk to sniff the roses?" He cursed under his breath as he stepped into another puddle. Julian snickered behind him. Skipper turned and gave him his famous death glare.

Marlene stepped between them, "Guys, fighting won't help anything."

"Sounding like a hippie, much?" Skipper murmured, but stepped away from Julien.

"Sir, I believe it'd be a wise decision to search for shelter and head home tomorrow after the rain stops." Kowalski suggested. His wet feathers were clinging to his body and he was getting annoyed at Skipper and Julien`s fights, which were getting more frequent by the minute.

"Fine. You´re right, soldier." His leader agreed. "Okay, team. Keep your eyes peeled for anything that could serve as a temporary shelter." The others perked up at the thought of a dry place and looked around.

All of the sudden, Julian yelped. The others turned around to see what´s the problem.

"Be looking at my royal fur!" The Katta whined as he tried to clean the mud specks that splashed onto the grey hairs.

Skipper face-flippered. "Ringtail you wimp!"

Julian crossed his arms and huffed. "My royal fur is being too costly to-"

"Guys, look!" Private interrupted their childish bickers.

"Lights! In the house, you see?" His British accent sounded through the night. It was a good sign. They had been searching for a house with lights (and without a watchdog) for an hour now. Lights meant warmth and safety and Skipper was a sucker for that right now.

"Alright, everyone move quickly toward the house with lights and-"

"Firefly!" Julien yelled and started going after a neon green speck in the dark. Rico managed to grab his tail just in time and Skipper started shouting angrily at the lemur.

"Ringtail, you stupid, obstinate, annoying, idiotic-"

"SKIPPER!" Marlene shouted, her normally sweet voice rising angrily. "Let's just move toward that house, alright?"

"She's right, sir, you two could act like a bunch of idiots later," Kowalski agreed, but started scrubbing his neck awkwardly when Skipper glared at him. The group moved surprisingly fast for a bunch of wet, tired animals. The fence that surrounded the house was broken, so they had no problem getting in. The house itself was huge. It was a typical house-next-door house, except for the peeling paint and un-weeded garden to signify its aging. But not only did it look beautiful, but something cooking wafted towards Skipper's nostrils. The light shone toward the exhausted, worn-out group, creating a feeling of warmth and security. Skipper sighed satisfied.

"This is perfect." he said.

"Uh, shouldn't you be paranoid?" Private asked his leader.

"Are you kidding, soldier?" Skipper answered in a soft voice, almost offended. "This place does not mix with paranoia. This is where heaven meets earth. This…" His voice drifted off as he dreamt of the cooking aromas.

"Who's a hippie now?" Marlene muttered under her breath. Skipper ignored her and started waddling towards the light.

"So pretty," he murmured. The group followed behind him, Kowalski and Private sharing concerned glances. Under usual circumstances, Skipper would never enter unknown territory, but these were not normal circumstances, it seemed. Rico, meanwhile, was dragging Julien behind, who was still trying to catch the firefly.

The door wasn't locked, but it didn't seem to surprise Skipper in his trance. The penguin kept walking straight on, his every step sounding loudly in the empty hall. A clock was ticking from somewhere above them, seeming to count Skipper's steps. Private was wondering if his breathing was too loud, he could hear it quite distinctly, that and the blood rushing to his ears. A dim light shone from underneath a door crack and Private realized Skipper was heading straight toward it, just like a puppet.

"Skip-" the little penguin started, but the word barely left his throat as more than a hoarse whisper. Not that the flat-headed penguin in front of him would listen or respond to Private. The little penguin could hear Kowalski murmuring random sentences to himself, but he couldn't really understand it.

"…back then… not good… just like in Costa Rica… I've never seen… Skipper again?" He reached for his clipboard, but felt wet pages under his flipper. A quiet curse left Kowalski's beak and Private realized that for once, the scientist was not feeling in-control and on top of the world. Instead, Kowalski sounded like he was confused, even scared.

And from behind them all, Rico was deadly quiet. Not a moan or a whisper or anything came from him, but when Private turned around to glance at the psychopath, his dark silhouette was behind them all, following, his flipper tightly around Julien's tail, who was looking all around him. Private remembered the lemur's good night-vision and he wondered what Julien was seeing. Marlene was pushing Julien a bit along. Her face was hidden in the darkness, but Private guessed that she had an anxious expression.

Skipper had reached the light underneath the door crack. He placed a flipper on the door and to Private's astonishment and quiet horror, the door swung silently open. Light blinded them for a moment and then they realized that the room in front of them was empty. Just in the middle of the room stood a pot of something steaming on a stool. Skipper moved on toward it slowly, the steam wafting toward him.

Private stopped in his tracks, Kowalski bumping into him. The scientist looked questioningly at the small penguin, but Private just stared at the door behind them. It was closed.

A chopping noise made everyone turn their heads toward a figure at the far west side of the room. Its back was turned to them, just its arm was moving steadily up and down, working the knife. When the metal reached the wooden board, there was a small sound, but loud enough for Private to wonder why they hadn't noticed it earlier. Even Skipper stopped walking and turned to stare at the figure. He slowly put a flipper to his beak and signaled the others to retreat, when a loud voice sounded from behind him.

"Hello," Julien said. "Is anyone being here?" The rest of the group glared at him. "What?" The lemur shrugged. "That's what they always say in da horror movies." He scratched his booty contently. "You know, before they are being killed and all."

The sound of the knife hitting the floor made them all turn around their heads. Skipper stared in horror at the figure now facing them.

She looked equally surprised at first. But then she bent down and picked up the knife.

Skipper jumped back at the sight of an author holding up a knife with red dripping from it. He raises his flippers in defense position. "AT! What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? I live here. With my sister of course." AT snorted.

"Fey?" Kowalski asked, almost a bit hopeful.

Skipper shot him a stern look. "I can´t believe we walked straight into this hell hole! Didn´t I tell you this was a bad idea, soldier?" He turned toward Private.

"What? Me? You´re the one to walk in here like a dazed zombie!" The Brit snapped, then realized the tone he used on his leader and quickly put his flipper over his beak.

Luckily for him, Skipper was going back to argue with AT.

"We´re going back!"

AT blocked the way for the others.

"You can´t keep us hostage here!" Skipper growled.

"You´re free to go," AT replied. "But I just wanted to warn you that a massive storm is brewing up and that it wouldn´t be safe to go back to the zoo."

The leader marched right past her. "We don´t need your warnings."

"But, sir-" Kowalski started. "Wouldn´t it be wiser to stay here till the storm is over?"

"Oh suuuure! That´s what Manfredi and Johnson thought too. ´Wouldn´t it be wiser if we stayed here during the blizzard?´ Next thing the Chinstrap Sisters had cut their hearts and kidneys out!" The flat headed penguin called back, already making his way back into the hallway.

"Chinstrap what?" Marlene asked before following him.

Julian jumped onto the counter, looking at the tray where AT had been cutting.

"What´s being this wobbly thingies?" He asked, poking the chunks.

"Guts."

"Ewww."

"TEAM!" Skipper called from the hallway.

"Sorry, AT." Private said, then slid after the others.

"Okay…bye." AT shrugged and turned toward Julian who was poking the meat repeatedly. "Are you going to eat that?"

"No."

"Then stop poking it!"

Skipper opened the door that led back out into the garden. The sight outside wasn´t pretty. The whole sky was churning with black-greenish clouds and a heavy wind blew leaves, sticks and stray papers all around. Private slid up next to him. "Wow…" Rico commented. "So…can we stay here?" Kowalski asked, tapping his flippers together in the nervous habit he got from the private.

"We can´t go out there." Marlene said, pointing to the churning clouds.

"Ugghh! Fine!" Skipper groaned. The last thing he wanted was to stay overnight in some evil authoresses home, but he couldn´t endanger his team and Marlene.

"Yes!" Kowalski said, overenthusiastically. When the others stared at him, he chuckled nervously.

Skipper closed the door and followed the others back inside the house.

Julian had stayed behind to poke the meat, but AT shooed him off the counter.

"Ooohhhh! What is dis?!"

"That´s a coffee maschine."

"And what is being dis?" The king held up a small metallic case formed like a star.

"That´s to cut out shapes in the cookie dough." The other replied, a bit annoyed.

"O-kay…and dis?" He held up a knife with a zigzag design.

"That´s to shut up annoying lemur kings by cutting their tongues out!"

The lemur immediately dropped the knife and inched away from it.

The noise of four pairs of webbed feet made the two look up.

"You´re back. Decided to listen to your beloved author anyway?" AT teased.

Skipper glared and shook his head. "No, we´re crashing in the hall…right next to the door, just in case we need to make a quick exit."

"Or you can just sleep in the guest room."

"I´d rather die!"

"Hold that thought." AT stepped over the animals and opened the door. "FEY?! COME DOWN! WE HAVE VISITORS!"

No answer.

"I´ll go get her!" Marlene offered and vanished out the door,

For a few moments, no one said anything.

Then AT looked at the pot. "Anyone feeling sacrificial lately? The recipe calls for a few plumb birds."

The penguins took a step back.

"Yes!" Julian jumped down from the counter. "That is being a good idea, ET!"

"It´s AT!"

"We must offer a sacrifice to the Sky Spirits so they´ll stop being angry. Like dis," The Katta danced around the pot and chanted a made-up-on-the-spot-song, "Here great Sky Spirits…we give you this offer of stinking fishy birds…accept our offer and smile! And then, the Sky Spirits will smell the sacrifice."

Julian straightened up and pretended to play both him and a Sky Spirit:

"I smell a tasty sacrifice!"

"Yes, this is a tasty penguin sacrifice for you!"

"For me? Oh, I couldn´t!"

"You must! This is being a form of friendliness."

"Well…maybe later. I am not feeling hungry."

"But it´ll be getting cold!"

"I don´t want to eat right now!"

"You eat this penguin this insistence or else I´ll stuff it down your throat!"

"You cannot be ordering me what to do! I am a Sky Spirit."

"I am getting tired of your arguing! Eat!"

"No!" A lightning flash illuminated the entire room.

Julian jumped behind Skipper with a yelp. "Alright, alright! You don't have to eat penguin!"

The others stared at him.

Meanwhile upstairs in a bathroom, Fey was swallowing a pill to turn her into a red panda. She did not have the author skills her sister had and also preferred seeing eye to eye with Marlene.

"So, what smells like honey here?" the otter asked her when Fey emerged out of the bundle of clothes that she left behind as an animal.

"Honey and sugar mask," Fey grinned. "It's great. I love honey! And olive oil."

"Cheap, aren't you?" Marlene joked.
"Very, and loving it," Fey returned. "So what happened that you've landed at this house now?"

"Well, I was trying to persuade Skipper to go on a little walk through the Central Park with me, right? But of course, Julien couldn't stand seeing me alone without sufficient security and Skipper couldn't stand being alone without his team and so all of the rest were tagging along when Skipper decided to go on some psycho mission."

"And then it started raining, huh?"

"Yeah, unfortunately," Marlene answered. "I'm all wet."

"Aww, well," Fey handed her one of her shirts from the floor. "Just use this to rub yourself dry."

"Thanks." Marlene said and rubbed her fur. When she emerged from under the shirt, her fur was sticking out in all crazy directions.

"I'M COMING!" Fey suddenly yelled and Marlene jumped up in horror.

"What was that for?" Marlene asked annoyed. "Why do you randomly shout at your sister?"

"Yeah, cuz she shouted a few minutes ago?"

"Exactly… a few minutes ago."

"You've got much to learn about the so-called relationship of these sisters here," Fey joked, then followed Marlene out of the bathroom. They slid down the stairs and landed right behind AT.

"Welcome to our humble home," the red panda announced. Skipper scowled.

"You do have room service, right?" he started to say. "Because I'm not going to help around here, do any chores or whatever."

"Skipper!" Kowalski said indignantly, "Of course we will help around here! These two girls have given us a shelter and you expect them to do all the work around here?" He turned to Fey. "My apologies, Fey…"

"No, really, it's okay," Fey smiled at him. "Won't you set a good example, Kowalski, and start cleaning the toilets?" An aghast expression crept on Kowalski's face as Fey handed him a toilet brush.

"You-you don't really mean…" his voice squeaked.

"Yes, thank you for volunteering," Fey said brightly, then turned to the rest. "Meanwhile, I can show you our TV room!"

"TV 'oom?" Rico asked excitedly.

"Of course, we have a TV room, what's a home without a good ole 16:9 flat-screen?" She started out of the door, everyone except Kowalski and AT following her. Just in time, AT held on to Skipper.

"Hold up, buster, you can help me in the kitchen," AT told Skipper. He squirmed.

"I'm not doing ANY work, you hear?" he shouted angrily at her.

"Work?" AT laughed, Skipper felt queasy. "Work? No, I just needed more penguin for the chili." He stared at the human girl in shock.

"Smile, Skippy, it was just a joke!"

Skipper let out a small sigh of relief.

Soft arpeggios made the two look up. Note followed note, flowing music filled the air.

"What´s that?" Skipper asked.

"Music, in case you haven´t noticed." AT said sarcastically.

"I know, but who´s playing it?"

"Someone with fingers?"

"Idiot." Skipper jumped out of her arms and slid in the direction of the music.

AT looked at Kowalski and shrugged. "By the way, you don´t really have to clean the toilets." She assured him.

Kowalski looked relieved as he gave her the toilet brush and slid out.

Skipper couldn´t believe he actually thought that this place couldn´t be evil! It was the mother of evil places! Well, after FanFiction of course. He shuddered as he thought of all the authors gathering on that one website.

The only thing that bothered him was that his team didn´t believe AT and Fey were evil. Especially Kowalski, Private and Marlene were falling for their lies and feigned innocence. Maybe, he snooped around and found some evil torture devices, he could be able to convince the others! With that plan in mind, Skipper headed in the direction of the basement.

The door creaked quietly when the penguin pushed it open. Immediately, a strong, foul stench greeted him from downstairs. Skipper stepped back quickly and gagged, holding his flippers over his nostrils. Either the two girls never clean down there, or something´s rotting. The leader continued holding his flippers over his beak as he descended slowly down the steps. There was no light switch, but the light from the open door was enough to see his footings.

Skipper spotted a wooden box with a few junk stuff off to the side. Inside there were the three things he needed: Flashlight, pocket knife and handkerchief.

He tied the cloth around his nostrils to keep out the smell and took the torch in one flipper and the weapon in the other. Armed and ready, the penguin continued. The only disadvantage is that he couldn´t shout if something happens cause of the handkerchief around his beak, but he´ll be fine. That´s what he told himself.

Five long minutes dragged on as the leader carefully inched downward. Every step was thought over and any movement, even from his own shadow, was immediately noticed.

Finally, cold concrete touched the underside of his foot. Skipper readjusted his flashlight and shone it around. At first, all he could make out was boxes, clutter and bags. Nothing interesting to report. The smell is probably a dead mouse or something. Disappointed, the leader turned away. That´s when his light brushed against something shiny on the other end of the room.

Skipper´s curiosity came back to life. The penguin flipped his pocket knife open and walked over. His flashlight weakened a bit. Skipper hoped that it wouldn´t just die and leave him in the dark.

The closer he got, the more apprehensive he grew. Something or someone was staring at his back. He could feel it. But whenever the commanding officer turned around, all he saw was darkness. Which wasn´t really reassuring.

There was definitely something metallic there in the corner, but Skipper couldn´t make it out yet.

When he finally got closer enough, his heart threatened to come to a sudden stop and he forgot to breathe.

It wasn´t so much of the ghastly torture devices that loomed in the corner, nor the blood specks that indicated the victims tormented till their deaths that horrified the penguin. It was that one rotting corpse still stuck in one of the iron chairs, mouth open in a frozen scream, widened eyes filled with pain and terror.

And it was just then, when the flashlight died and Fey saw the open basement door and closed it.

Skipper would like to say he´d handled the situation in a very manly way and kept his wits…he didn´t.

The leader screamed and dropped his flashlight, stumbling back. He screamed again when something brushed against his back feathers.

"AHH! NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!" He hurled his knife towards the offending touch and slid blindly in the direction he assumed to be the stairs.

Lightning struck and Skipper could make out the empty, bloody eye sockets of the torture victim right next to his cheek.

His final scream sent the basement door flying open.

"SKIPPAH!"

He heard as Private jumped down a couple steps.

The penguin gathered himself and slid to the direction of the light.

"There you are!" Marlene exclaimed.

Kowalski and Rico hurried over to him and grabbed his flippers, hauling him up.

"What´s wrong, Skippy?" AT asked, kneeling over him. Everyone else gathered in a tight circle around the officer.

"M-murderers!" He choked out before fainting.

When he came to, he felt something soft under him. Music from before was playing and a gentle breeze brushed against him.

Skipper was sure he was in heaven due to the authors.

´Well, this is it. Fey and AT finally committed their ghastly crimes in public…hopefully one of the boys got away to tell someone…"

"Is he going to be okay?" Private´s concerned voice floated to his ear holes. He sounded far, far away. Then they must´ve killed him too.

Rage filled the penguin and he sat straight up.

"Oh, he´s awake!" Private ran over and hugged his leader.

"So I´m not dead?" Skipper asked his remaining men as he hugged back.

"Sorry, but no." Marlene laughed. The otter carried a cup of water of to him.

"Thanks…" Skipper took a sip and immediately felt better. That is, until he remembered the carcass, and its face staring at him…

Stop it! His stomach demanded and coughed up the water all over Julian.

"HEY! EWWW!" The Katta complained loudly and jumped away. He looked down at his fur disgusted and glared at the penguin.

Skipper, however, had moved on. "So, where are the authors?"

"They´re in the basement."

"Good! We have enough time to flee, storm or no storm!"

"Hold on!" Fey said as she pushed the door open.

AT came up behind her, looking rather green.

Skipper jumped up and Rico got ready to hack up a weapon.

"Get away from my team and the others, you cruel, heartless-"

"SKIPPER!" Fey shouted.

Said bird shut his beak. Kowalski flinched.

The older girl took a deep breath. Kowalski noticed that she was very shaken up. She had to pull herself together. Next to Skipper, she was the authority person. Now that the penguin had fainted dead away, everyone kinda looked at her for directions and comfort now. Even AT relied on her sister. A tough job, but Fey managed to pull it off.

"Look, I…we don´t know how that got down in the basement."

"You live here." Skipper said, giving her an accused glare.

"Yes."

"And this is your house so-"

"Wait, no!" AT interrupted. "This isn´t our house!"

"What?" Marlene spoke everyone´s confusement with one word.

Despite the situation, Fey smiled a bit. "You really think two teenagers would actually live alone in this big house…or could even afford it?"

"Well, no…"

"But I don´t understand!" The British penguin piped up. "If this isn´t your house, who owns it then?"

Both girls shrugged.

Skipper face-flippered. "Real responsible, guys, real responsible."

AT just grinned.

Her sister picked up her phone and dialed in some numbers. Then she frowned.

"Who are you calling?" Private asked curiously.

"Well, I wanted to call the police, but I´m not getting any reception."

Skipper suddenly scowled as a thought crossed his mind.

He jumped out of the bed he was in and began pacing around.

"Flashlight…stopped working…phone…no reception…this is not good."

"What?" Marlene asked again. And again, voicing everyone´s thoughts.

The penguin turned to them, looking queasy. "Guys," He started, remembering the feeling of someone down there in the room with him. "As I neared the torture devices, I had this feeling that someone was watching me. Then suddenly the flashlight stopped working, like someone had installed a jamming transmitter. That would explain why Fey couldn´t get a signal! Plus, I felt someone brush my back…"

Everyone stared at him in horror.

Private whimpered and hid behind Kowalski.

"So…that means what exactly?" AT asked.

"It means," Skipper glanced at the door. "That we´re stuck here, with some crazy killer in the house."

A\N: Cliffhanger! ^^ Alright, don´t hate us, it´s just that if we try to jam it all into one chapter, it´ll take too long and be hard to read. If you guys review, we´ll update! That is, if the crazy assassin in our basement doesn´t get us first…0.0